


Footsteps

by Brill (HalfLight)



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Cute, F/M, Family, Fluff, Making Love, Non-Explicit Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2016-05-20
Packaged: 2018-06-09 13:06:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6908392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalfLight/pseuds/Brill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"<i>...this one whom habit of memory propels to the ground of his making, / sleeper only the mortal sounds can sing awake, / this blessing love gives again into our arms.</i>" - Galway Kinnell, "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps."</p><p> Saizo and Azura get a nighttime visitor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Footsteps

**Author's Note:**

> Entirely self-indulgent Saizo/Azura fanfic written/edited as part of a warmup to a longer fic I'm writing currently. Notes on the timing of things - Saizo and Azura had Asugi first, raised him in the Deeprealms, boom Asugi's Paralogue happened and he joined the army/had supports with his parents. Shortly/some time after that Shigure was born, was raised in his Deeprealm, and then HIS paralogue happened. This happens while Azura and Saizo are visiting when Shigure's still a wee one.
> 
> As mentioned in the summary, this fic is heavily inspired by "[After Making Love We Hear Footsteps](https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/after-making-love-we-hear-footsteps)" by Galway Kinnell. It's one of the poems that has stuck with me from my college days and is one of my favorites.

“Saizo-- _Sai_ \--”  
  
Azura’s thighs tremble, tight around his waist, and he knows from the way her lips part and her eyelids flutter that she’s close.  He laces his fingers with hers in a tight grip and drinks in the way her hair spills across the pillow, her blush painting her pale cheeks with a glow.  “Shh,” he soothes, checking to make sure the door is still closed even as he reaches down with his other hand to rub at her with small, merciless strokes.  
  
“ _Ah_ \--”  
  
Saizo presses forward, stifling her cries with his mouth as she comes.  He manages a few more thrusts before he follows, holding her close, focusing on her fingers carding through his hair and her pants ghosting against his lips.  
  
They ease into the afterglow, Azura holding his face in her hands and peppering his forehead, cheekbones, and eyelids with kisses.  He shifts, plastering himself to her side, and tucks his forehead into the crook of her neck.  
  
“You feeling okay?” Saizo asks, his voice a low rumble as he brushes fingertips over her belly.  
  
“Mhmm.” Azura’s voice is low and content, and she turns to kiss his temple.  “Better than you can imagine, my love.”  She reaches up to cup the side of his face, running a thumb over his cheekbone  He sighs and shuts his eye for a moment, basking in her warmth and the simple peace of his son’s Deeprealm.  
  
He hears small footsteps against the tatami before the door slides open. Saizo lifts his head when he sees his youngest son standing in the doorway, a small blanket dragging behind him.  
  
“Shigure?” Saizo calls, his voice louder and firmer as he moves to cover himself and Azura.  Shigure doesn’t move, but he does seem to shift a little, as though he can’t decide whether to come in or dart back down the hallway.    
  
It’s Azura who decides it for them both, reaching out with open arms.  “Come here, darling.  It’s all right.”  Saizo watches his son’s face light up as he scrambles into the room, shutting the door behind him - so unlike Asugi, he thinks - and crawling onto the futon.  
  
“Bad dream?” Saizo asks, moving over and giving Shigure more space to wiggle between them.  Azura tucks his blanket around his tiny body, and Saizo gives thanks to whatever gods exist that his son won’t have to join them beneath the sheets.  
  
“No,” Shigure says, shaking his head.  “I heard something.  Wanted to see if you and Mother were okay.”  
  
“How sweet of you,” Azura says, leaning down and pressing a kiss to Shigure’s forehead.  “And how very brave.”  She smiles at Saizo when he crooks an eyebrow at her.  “Those hallways are quite dark, after all.”  
  
“I wasn’t scared,” Shigure says, curling his fingers into the blanket and fighting back a yawn.  
  
“Mm.  I bet you weren’t,” Saizo replies, ruffling Shigure’s hair.  He thinks of Asugi at Shigure’s age, sneaking past their room in the dead of night for a taste of the sweets Azura kept hidden in the kitchen.  “It’s late, though.  You should go to sleep.”  
  
Shigure drops his eyes and rubs at the blanket, quiet for a moment.  “You’re leaving tomorrow, right?” Shigure asks, like he’s fighting back tears.  
  
“We’ll come back as soon as we can,” Azura says, smoothing Shigure’s hair.  “And we think of you every second we’re away.”  
  
“I know.”  A beat.  “...Can I stay here tonight?”  
  
Azura doesn’t answer, but her golden eyes flicker up to Saizo.  He thinks back to another Deeprealm, another time, where he would have said no.  
  
But Saizo is older now, if only a little. If nothing else, he has the lessons he learned from Asugi to guide him.  
  
“I don’t see why not. It’s just for tonight.”  
  
“You have to go right to sleep, though,” Azura adds.  Saizo doesn’t think that will be a problem, not with the way Shigure’s eyes droop and the second, wider yawn he doesn’t bother to cover with his mouth.  Azura tucks him in, pulling the blanket up to Shigure’s chin, and hums a few notes until her son’s eyes close and his breath evens out.  
  
Saizo watches Azura, drinking in his wife’s half-lidded eyes and wide, content smile as she watches her son.  Saizo reaches out, his fingers lingering on her face longer than necessary as he tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear.  
  
Her gaze shifts to him, that same softness and fondness sparkling in her golden eyes, and he feels his chest swell with the same thing he felt the day he came to her, laying his soul bare with a flushed face and averted eye.  
  
She chuckles as he traces his fingertips down her cheek, pausing to feel her pulse beat in her neck before skimming over her collarbone and closing a hand over her forearm.    
  
“You’re doing fine,” she whispers, reaching out and mirroring his touch, her hold gentle despite the callouses on her fingers. She is anything but soft and delicate, he’s learned, both in the way she handles her naginata in battle and the way she handles him in bed, smiling as she undoes him with teasing fingers.  
  
Saizo shuts his eye, the better to hear her song as she starts to hum again, and the notes are sparkling starlight against the dark of his eyelids.  And in this night, this peace, Saizo allows himself to relax as he rarely does and slip into sleep with his wife, the child lying between them the thread tying them together.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Comments/concrit are welcome, if you see a typo let me know!


End file.
